watson



May 24. 192 7.

E. F. WATSON SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed March 1 1924 2 Shasta-Sheet 1 f IIVVEN iQR l 4 1 ,629 559 May 1927' E. F. WATSON I SIGNALING SYSTEM 2Sheets-Shae? 2 Filed March 1, 1924 INVENTOR By m W ATTORNEY Patented May24, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFKIE;

EDWARD F. WATSON, OF LARCHMONT, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB TO AMERICAN i PHONEAND TELEGRAPH COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SIGNALING SYSTEM.

Application med larch 1,

An object of my invention is to provide new and improved apparatus fortransmit ting pictures by telegraphy. Another Ob e-Qt of my invention isto provide a system adapted alternatively for picture transmission orfor pa e printing telegraphyi Another object 0% my invention is toprovide for simple modification of printing telegraph apparatus to adaptit for picture transmission. These and various other objects of myinvention will become apparent on consideration of a limited number ofspecific embodiments which Will be described as (X- amples of theinvention in the following specification. 'ith the understanding thatthescope of the invention'will he defined in the appended claims, I nowproceed to a specific description of the embodiments thereof shown inthe drawings. A

Figure l is a diagram of a system embodying the invention; Fig. is anelevation of apparatus for adjusting the spacing or the line feed in atelegraph page printer to adapt it for printing text messages orpictures as desired; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic perspective of mechanismfor oper ating either of two sets of type bars, one for message printingand the other for picture printing, as desired; and Fig. 4 is a diagramof a modification of Fig. 1 adapted for economizing the line time inpicture transmission.

Referring to Fig. 1, a main line is shown with three stations, A, B andC. At station A there is an equipment adapted for printing telegraphsending or receiving or picture sending or receiving. \Vhen the two setsof switches 1 and 2 are both thrown down, the station is in conditionfor either printing telegraph sending or receiving. In this case it willreadil) he seen that the main line extends through the printer P and thetape transmitter 'lT. For transmitting. the keyboard pcrl'orator Kl isoperated in the usual manner to punch a tape 11. This punched tape isthen fed througlrthe tape transmitter 'lT and. in accordance with thecode represented by the perforations therein, impulses are sent over theline. These impulses will be received in'the printer 1" at station B andthe printer P at. station C and will be recorded as page printed text atthese stations. It should be understood 'when it stands idle, aliords acount-cum F 1924. Serial No. $98,262.

that the tape transmitter IT at station. 5,

therethrough for the main line. For r ord purposes, or a check on theaecni of transmission, the message is also printed by printer P atstation A, just as it is printed by tifil?i$ P and P at stations B and(.3. v

All of the apparatus involved in the trans mission just described welllmown, and accordingly it is represented symbolically. In thisconnection it should he und rstood that the rertangie Til represents allthat mechanism neat s4 rv for testing the tape or perforations and torSt itlllflg lllii signai in accordance with the holes perforatedthe-tape. Rectangle l repre cits ail the it mechanism neres'. arr forreceiving and intes preling the line signals into printed char acters onpage. Rectangle Ml reprt all the mechanism neressarv for rcceii linesignals and recording them per; rations in a tape.

In case it is wt ired to reeeive by ordinary printing teleg ation A iromstation I). the tape transi'nitter it"? allmwsed to stand idle in whicheat it afiP'u-ds a cutdncti e path therethroug h or the main lilb'].

and the received message is printed on a page in the printer i". Tlhevhoard p forator kl" and'the tape tr itter 'l l' at station B areoperated in the manner tofore described for the eorrespondi ments atstation A when transmis' from station i The message also print; at P andat l the same asat I.

If it is desired to receive a nnrssagr at station "A on a perforatedtape, instead directly on the printer. this may he done placing theswitches in their upper pawl lion and the switches l in their lower ptton. ith these adju tments. it will he seen that th main line coining infrom the let"! extends through the tape lranmnittei 'll' and the machineperforator fill and (in-lire out to the right. The tape tran mitter itstands idle. niertdy atl ording a eondmtiw path therethronph, and themachine peril: rator Ml perforates the message in c de $2: the tape Thetape 12 mar he allo wd to accumulate or, as desired. it mar he sentthrough the transmitter PT. "it'ih switches at the adjustznon has itrani-zu'iittcr PT is in a local circuit, with the printer P so that themessage will be printed in the printer 1 om the transmtter PT.

If it is desire t o :end a picture from the station A, the switches land 2 are placed in the positions shown in Fig. 1,. The pieture in theform of a transparent lilm 13 is wrapped on the glass drum 1-1 which isrotated and travi'arscd by the screwdhreaded :ihal't 15. Light from thesource 16 is refiected by the mirror 17 through the spot of the liiniunderlying the opening in the screen 18, and the transmitted ray oflight, shines on the photoele tric cell 19 and ac rordine ly determinesthe current input to he amplifi r 23. The amplilied output curent fromthe amplifier goes to the three :narginal relay in series ll, 22 and 23.

For white in the picture, no relay picks up.

For light gray picks up.

For medium gray in the picture, relays 21 and iipiek up.

For dank gray in the picture, all three relays pick up. It: will readilybe seen that the third and tifth sending relays, and flu. respectively,will be energized as follows:

in the picture, relay 21 idnigly, the dist rihutor will put codeimpulses through the nuf hiue perl'orator Ml. and the tape 12 will hepunched to mrre pmvl. As shown in the foregoing; .nhle. the punched odefor \vhih: in the picture will he the mine as [or a space in printingtelegraph light gray in the picture will he the Still. as for a periodin printing t-rlagraphr: medium gray in the picture wi l l e the $1 toa; or a T in printing tolegzraphy: and dark gray in the picture will hethe mun in: for an M in printing tele- ,jt'npl s'.

T ie di tributor 2- is :1 Hart stop distrib- Hut rontrolh-d hy themagnet 3 who e hunt is t'l(; ""l momentarily from the commutator 27 foreach siu'riawdve element of the lilm 1 The arriage return and line feedr ten are determined rwpe tiwly by magtl 1t- 2t) and 4 whose circuitsare closed once ea h rmolution of drum 14' by the commutator 21*. .\tthe time their circuits are closed, thrground connection to contacts ofrelays :ll. :2: and :3. is removed at. commutator 29 to prevent pos ihleoperation of relays 30 and oil,

The tape 12 with the picture record punched therein will be fed throughthe transmitter PT, and the corresponding current impulses will be sentout through the local printer 1 and over the line. In each of theprinters I, l and 1 there will be printed a combination of spaces,periods, Ts and Ms that will give a halt tone repie scntation ol' thepicture contained in the lilm Ll. It will he noticed that the quantityof shade in the letter M is considerably greater than in the letter T,and in turn the quantity of shade in the letter T is greater than in theperiod.

The picture printed in this way in any one of the printers P, I or P maybe reduced by photography so as to give a very good half tone likeness.

Station ll is adapted for printing telegraph transmitting or receivingand for picture receiving. Either messages or pictures may he receiveddirectly on the printer P with the switches as shown in Fig. 1. Bythrowing switches 2 up, the message or picture may he received on themachine perforator M1" and recorded in the tape 12', which may then heput through the transmitter PT to reproduce the picture message in theprinter I PT and I" being in series in a local circuit when the switchesare adjusted as last mentioned. Also, the picture or message recorded inthe tape 12' may he sent out over the branch line from the station B,for which purpose the switch 4' is to be thrown from the position shownin the drawing.

Station C is equipped only with apparatus for receiving page printingand pictures.

in order to print a received picture with a liner grained halt tone, itmay be desirable to reduce the spacing and the line feed 12;. comparedwith ordinary printing telegraphy. The ratchet wheel shown in Fig. :2determines the line feed in the printer and a similar ratchet wheeldetermines the spa ing in the printer l. Each stroke of the feed lever31 ad vancos the feed pawl 32 till it strikes the abutment ilil. \Viththe lever X adju ted at the position shown in Fig. 3. the feed pawl 32will drop from the ledge ill and carry the ratchet wheel two notrhesbefore it strikes the abutment 33. lly shifting; the lever X, the feedpawl can he made to carry the ratchet wheel one n tch. or three notchesinstead of two notche- This lever X is indicated symbolically on theprinters P. P and P, and it will he understood that for printingpictures it may he desirable by means of it. to reduce the line shift sothat the lines will be Closer together than for ordinary telegraphprintlug.

Also, in a similar manner the levers Y shown or. the printers P, P and Pmay be operated to reduce the spacing in the lines, so that the printedcharacters will be closer together than for ordinary message printing.

If it is considered desirable to use other characters than Ts and Ms tomake the half tone impressions, this may be done by means of theapparatus shown in Fig. 3. The permutation bars 51 are displaced lngthwise in accordance with the code, and for any particular codecombination there will be one, or in some cases two, places where theirnotches on the underside are in alignment. After the permutation bars 51are positioned. the bail N rises and the springs 52 pull up the type-barpush-bars 53. and any push-bar 53 which lies under aligning notches inthe permutation bars 51 will be pulled up into those notches (unlesssuch push-bar is restrained by plate M to he mentioned presently). Thenthe printing bar 54 advances in engagement with the shoulder of theselected push-bar 53 and causes the corresponding type 55 to print itsimpression on the paper on the platen 56.

The permutation bars 51 are constructed so that they will provide twosets of aligning notches for each of several characters. namely, theperiod, T and M. ,The plate M has two adjustments, and in one positionit will prevent one set of type bars 53 from being pulled up by theSprings 52, and in the other position it will likewise prevent the otherset.

The normal adjustment for telegraph printing will be with the plate Mwhere it permits the. period, the T and the M to rint. When shifted tothe other osition, it will prevent them from rinting, ut will 1 thenpermit the correspon ing characters to be printed, as a light dot, amedium dot or a heavy dot. The handle for this plate M is indicated onthe printers P, P and P in Fig. 1, and this may be adjusted-when thechange is made from message printingto picture printing, and vice versa.

Referring to Fig. 4, this shows a station which may take the place ofstation A in Fig. 1 when it-is desired to economize the line time forpicture transmission. hen this arrangement is used it .vrill beundermjood from What follows. that a counting device as indicatedsymbolically-by rectangle C, will also be retiuired at other stations onthe circuit, such as stationsB and C.

It will be understood that in many pictures there will often be asequence of picture elements of like shade. the tape 12. at station A inFig. 1 will have m'any successive like combinations punched therein andthe corresponding code currents sent over the line will comprise manyrepetitions of the same combination. In Fig. 4 counting apparatus C isprovided which will count a sequence of like code combin'a tions andsend a special combination to indicate the shade and the number ofpicture elements of that shade.

.With the switches at the position shown in and the switches 2 arethrown up.

In such a case Fig. 4, the system is adapted for ordinary text messagesending or receiving, as already explained for station A in Fig. 1. Inthis case it does not matter whether the switches 1 are at the right orthe left.

For picture transmitting. the switch I is placed in the position shownand the switches 2 are thrown up. The rectangles it and 42representrespectively the apparatui in the like designated rectangles ofFig. 1. In Fig. 4- a counter C is interposed between 41 and 42. Thiscumulates or counts a scquence of like combinations from the apparatus41 and puts the count in the form of a code combination (which alsoindicates the shade) and issent by the. apparatus -12. The circuit from42 leads to the machine perforator MI which perforates the combinzc tionin the tape 12". The tape 12" is then fed to the tape transmitter TT(instead or" PT) and thus the combinations are put on the line.

In transmitting aforesaid the printer 1 is inactive and there is nolocal record of the picture other than in the film 12) in the apparatus41. lt it is desired that thepicturc shall be printed locally from the.pi rt'orated tape, then the tape will be run from the machine pertoratorMl through the two transmitters TT and PT in succession. transmissionfrom TT will be over the line as already described, but from PT the codecurrents will go to the counter C which will hold the transmitter PT ata combination on the tape till it has beenrepeated the proper 1 numberof times. The repeated combinations go to the printer P and reproducethe picture there.

When a pictureis received from a distance, the switches 1 are thrown tothe left, This puts the machine pertorator MP on the line, and itaccordingly punches the tape 12" with the code symbols representing theshade of the picture elements and the number of elements in a sequence.his tape 12" goes through the transmitter PT, -which sends correspondingcurrent impulses into the counter (l'. The counter C arrests thetransmitter PT and counts out the number of combinations to the printerP indicated by the code, 'and the printer P prints the picture. i

For a disclosure of the details of a suitable counter to be employed inthis connection, reference may be made to the Vernam ap- The 7 lit)plicat-ion, Serial No. 754,166 filed December I claim I 1. In a picturetransmitting system, means means to shift the test over all the elementsof the picture, means to transmit electric currents corresponding tosaid response, a picture receiving surface, means to record shades ofsaid elemental areas upon corresponding areas of said receiving surface,said recording being determined by said currents, means for normallyspacing said areas by a predetermined amount and means to vary thespacing between said corresponding areas.

2. In a picture transmitting system. means to test a restrictedelemental area of a picture and give a response according to its degreeof shade, means to shift the test to successive elemental areas of thepicture, means to punch code combinations in a tape corresponding inorder to the degrees of shade of the picture elements, means go\' ernedby such a tape to transmit corresponding electric currents, a receiverfor said currents adapted to print successive impressions on a picturereceivingsurface determined in shade according to the said codecombinations, and means to adjust the spacing of the said impressions.

3. In a picture transmitting system, means to punch code combinations ina tape corresponding in order to the (.legree of shade of successiveelemental areas of a picture to be transmitted, means governed by such atape to transmit corresponding electric currents, means determinedbysaid currents to reproduce the successive picture elements incorresponding shade at the receiving end and with predetermined spacing,and means to adjust the character and spacing of the said elements atthe receiving end.

4. In a picture transmitting system, means to test a restrictedelemental area of a pictarp and give a response according to its degreeof shade, means to shift the test to successive elemental areas of thepicture, means to transmit over an electric circuit successive codecombinations corresponding to the degree of shade in the respectivepicture elements, means to reproduce the picture at the receiving end byprinting impressions on successive elemental areas of a predeterminedsize and corresponding in shade with the elements of the transmittedpicture as determined by the said combinations, and means to adjust thesize of the said elemental areas at the receiving end.

5. The method of transmitting a picture. which consists in testingrestricted elemental areas in succession, making a record thereof incode combinations corresponding to the shades of the said elementalareas, transmitting electric currents determined by said record. and atthe receiving end printing the picture in successive elements of shadede termined by the said electric currents, and manually adjusting thespacing of the elements at the receiving end.

6. The method of transmitting a picture, which consists in testing theshade ofan ele mental area of the picture, shifting such test tosuccessive elemental areas, transmitting for each element a codecombination of electric currents corresponding to its shade, and at thereceiving end reconstructing the picture by printing the successiveelements each in the corresponding shade as determined by the receivedcode combination of currents, and varying the spacing and character ofthe elements at the receiving end to control the general tone of thereceived pictures 7. In combination, a machine perforator, a recordtape, means to operate said pen forator alternatively desired to make: 1

record in said tape according to the shade of successive elements of apicture or according to the currents of a code telegraph message areceiving printer and means controlled by the record in the tape tocause said printer to operate to print said picture or a page textmessage as the case may be.

8. In combination. a line, a station on said line, a print-er at saidstation to print a mes sage or a picture according to code currentsreceivedon the line, means to adjust the printer for spacing andcharacter of the impression:- a keyboard perforator and tape transmitterfor sending messages, and a machine perforator and a tape transmitterfor sending pictures.

9. In combination, a line, a station on said line, aprinter at saidstation to print a message or a picture according to code currentsreceived on the line, a machin prforator to be operated alternatively tosaid printer to punch a tape for such message or picture, a branch line,and a tape transmitter to send the message or picture on the branch lineas received OIL-tile tape.

10. In combination, a line, a station on said line, a printer at saidstation to print a message or a picture according to code currentsreceived on the line, means to adjust the printer for spacing andcharacter of the impressions, a keyboard for sending memages and amachine perforator and a. tape transmitter for sending pictures, saidkeyboard on the one hand and said machine perforator and tapetransmitter on the other hand being adapted for alternative cornicetionwith the line.

11. In combination, means for generating currents in an electric circuitcorresponding to the shade of successive elements of a. picture, acounter for counting a sequence of like current impulses correspondingto consecutive elements of like shade in the picture, selector relaysfor putting impulses into a circuit corresponding to the shade and thecount as determined by the counter, a machine perforator adapted to beactuated by currents in that circuit, a transmitter to be actuated bythe tape pre ared by the machine perforator, a manual eyboard and a lineadapted to be connected alternatively sists in punching a. record um tosaid transmitter or for sending from said keyboard.

12. In combination, a line, a station on said line, a printer at saidstation to print a message or a picture according to code currentsreceived on the line, means to ad just the printer for s acing andcharacter of the impressions, a eyboard for sending text messages,apparatus for testing the suc: cessive elements of a picture andcounting elements of like shade in sequence and perforating a tapeaccordingly, and a ta e transmitter for sending picturesfrom t eperforated tape, said combination being adapted for operative connectionof either said keyboard or said tape transmitter with the line.

13. In a picture transmitting system, means to punch code combinationsin a tape corresponding in order to uences of elemental areas of apicture of like shade both as to the shade and the number of elements insuch a sequence in a picture to be trans; mitted. means governed by sucha tape to transmit correspondin electric currents, means determined bysaid currents to reproduce the successive picture elements in corresponding shade at the receiving end, and means to ad'ust for thecharacter and spacing of sai elements at the receiving end.

14. The method of transmitting a picture or a text message altcrnativelwhich conl transmitting therefrom a text message or punching a rec- 0rdwith code symbols, each corresponding to a sequence of picture elementsof like shade in respect to the shade and the number of elements in thesequence and transmitting electric currents according to such record.

15. In combination, means to send code current impulses corresponding tothe characirrs in a text message, means to send code combinations ofcurrentimpulscs each combination corresponding to sequences of pictureelements of like shade both in respect to the shade and the number ofelements in sequence, and a line to which said means may be connectedalternatively.

16. In combination, means to receive and record a text message fromcorresponding code current impulses, means to receive and record apicture from code current impulses when each code combinationcorresponds both in shade and number of elements to a sequence ofpicture elements of like shade, and a line to which said means may bconnected alternatively.

17. In combination a transmission line,

means for automatically sending over said line code currentscorresponding to elemental areas of the picture to be transmitted, meansfor sending over said line code currents corresponding to text messages,and a reeeivin printer responsive to said first mentione code currentsto reproduce the transmitted picture and responsive to said secondmentioned code currents to reproduce a text mes sage.

18. In combination a transmission line,

means for testing the elemental areas of a picture to give automaticresponses according to the shades of said areas, means for sending oversaid line code currents in accordance with said responses, means forsending over said line code currents corre-, sponding to text message tobe transmitted, and a receiving printer adapted to respond to said firstmentioned code currents to reproduce said picture and to respond to saidsecond mentioned code currents to reproduce said text message.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this28th dayct' February, 1924.

EDW'ARD l \VATSUN.

